


A new start

by BoredKidLikesBatim



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine, Showdown Bandit (Video Game)
Genre: Crossover, Distrustful!Henry, Gen, I saw connections between certain characters, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possession, Puppets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2020-11-28 08:04:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20963231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoredKidLikesBatim/pseuds/BoredKidLikesBatim
Summary: You thought it really was the end. You thought you had won. You thought the nightmare had finally ended for you.No, Henry. The nightmare has only just begun.





	1. Prologue

_The loop can't be broken._

_The machine must endure._

_The loop can't be broken._

_Don't you see it, Henry? Don't you understand? This is our destiny!_

_This is how it was always supposed to be! This is our creation! Our masterpiece!_

_The story won’t end. The empire will last._

When I was inside the studio the first time, living the nightmare Joey had created, I was screaming, begging for mercy and crying without an end. I died countless of times, but came back no matter what. I wasn’t able to die. Not allowed to die. Like he wanted to punish me. Punish me for leaving.

I couldn't believe what Joey had done to all of them. But how could I have possibly known what he would do after I left? Could I have prevented this horror if I stayed just a little longer? If I didn't leave at all?

...I don't think so. He would have started with these twisted, horrifying experiments, the torture and the murders anyway, as long as he got what he wanted. And he wanted actual living cartoons, no matter what it costed. If he he had to sacrifice thousands of souls, so be it. And I... I would have worked myself to death. I should be grateful for being free for so long.

I just didn't understand. It was literal hell. Like Joey wanted to punish me. He never got over the fact that I left. He blamed me. I should have stayed and none of this would have happened. I doubt he ever thought what he was doing was wrong. Regret. Guilt. He doesn't know those things. Never did.

He was truly a demon. Sinister, but seemingly friendly and charming.

When I traveled through hell the second time, it was even more painful. At first I was confused, but then I saw my chance at changing the story. But I couldn't. I had to turn on the machine, if I wanted or not. I could walk backwards, but Sammy would still knock me out somehow. And so it continued, becoming a never ending nightmare. Boris would still die, despite my efforts. It didn't matter what I did. It was useless. Norman would still die, too. He didn't seem to recognize me at all. His reactions were animalistic, just like most people's.

I found new secrets hidden within the studio. I noticed details and understood more about what had happened in the studio while I was gone. Not enough to know exactly every detail, though. I had to speculate which person became an ink monster.

But no information helped me. I couldn't change anything, even if I knew more of the story. I tried talking to the ink monsters, tried making them my friends. I tried making so many different choices. It didn't change much at all. Nearly nothing. Sometimes the changes were even worse than the actual story. Killing Boris with a plunger, for example. It was horrible to kill him in the first place, but doing it with a bloody plunger, the most useless tool... made it seem like a challenge. It wasn’t. 

With every loop, the story effected me less and less. I became numb to everything. It didn't scare me anymore. It didn't make me sad. Why should I be sad? I had seen it hundreds of times already. I was used to it. It had become normal to me. It was almost comforting that I knew what would happen as I didn’t have a reason to be scared anymore. I was killed fast and the pain only lasted seconds.

Still, I was not going to give up just because Joey wanted me to. I would try over and over again until I won. Maybe I could escape this hell some day. Maybe I could help the victims of Joey's twisted experiments and dreams. Maybe. But hope was what kept me going. What kept me alive.

I wasn't expecting what happened next, though. _It was new. It was... scary._


	2. Found

The first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. Suspiciously quiet. It was almost impossible to find a place that was completely silent. There was always at least one sound echoing in the studio. It didn't matter if it was just a bit music, an enemy who had decided to rise from the ink and attack me or just the sound of the machinery everywhere around me. But if it stayed silent for a while... I could always be sure something absolutely horrifying was about to happen soon.

It was so obvious and Joey had never really been as creative as he always claimed to be. He just didn't know how to create a good story. And he never would. Dreaming had been his ability, but he had never never really been able to think things through. He'd always had to rely on others and their abilities if he wanted it or not. And believe me, he always craved to be independent. He had adapted the attitude of pretending to be independent over the years. Maybe he actually believed if he acted like he was he'd be some day? It was quite pathetic to be honest.

So the silence around me was obviously stressing me out. It was unbearable to me. I knew something was going to happen eventually. The problem was that I didn't know what would happen next.

I couldn't really move. It felt like I was hiding in one of the miracle stations again, but I knew it wasn't one. It appeared to be some sort of box. There was a big crack in the wooden wall in front of me, and I knew for a fact that if someone tried to destroy a miracle station, they would at least finish the job. I had seen some broken ones around Alice's domain as well as a corridor near the only poster featuring the Butcher Gang. At least the only poster near the elevator.

I decided to peek through the crack to figure out where I was. I couldn't see much, but what I saw was hard for me to believe; _Red. A c__olor! An actual color! No more black and white. Well, technically yellow, but why should I care?_

The moment I had woken up in this wooden box or whatever it was, I knew this was something different. Something completely new. Joey had barely ever changed the story. Usually only small things, sometimes they were barely noticeable. Big things if he was unsatisfied, like he'd been before in the first, second and third part. He'd later changed the layout of the studio during my quests for Alice and added the infirmary as well as the sewer.

And he showed his sign of 'caring' by adding some stupid games for me to play. I wanted to help the other employees and finally get my freedom back, not waste my time with some games he put in there because his story was getting boring. It was obvious he knew what I felt, but pissing me off had always been one of his favorite hobbies. He had never cared about any person but himself, so it wasn't very surprising. Unless he saw someone or their talent as a benefit for his studio and career or thought of them as entertaining, he was barely interested in people.

"Hello? Someone there?" a woman's voice asked. "Anyone?"

I didn't dare to breathe. A voice? An actual human voice? And one I had never heard before? Still I wasn't sure if I wanted the woman to find me. There had already been moments when I regretted trusting others. During my first travel through the studio I had been so naive and trusting. Of course I knew there were bad people in the world. But I thought at least one employee must be on my side because I could free them. How wrong I was...

Boris had been nice, but he would always be used as a weapon against me. It didn't matter how much he cared about me during our time in the safe house, he would never try not to fight me after he became Brute Boris. I didn't blame him though. What Alice did to him wasn't his fault. You shouldn't expect anyone to be able to resist fighting against your friend after being turned into a mindless zombie.

And Allison and Tom... well, after a few loops I started analyzing everyone's behavior. They introduced themselves in a bad-cop-good-cop scenario. Of course it was easy to trust Allison who was nice to me despite not really trusting me. She gave me an object she claimed was important, but never wanted it back. How could she have possibly not seen the message behind her? Then they left me in my prison cell even though Tom had an axe. They could have easily gotten me out if they actually wanted to. Later, he suddenly trusted me for no reason at all! Everything they did was suspicious. They always arrived when I needed help. Trusting them was a mistake I couldn’t make.

Suddenly, a thin, grayish-green face appeared right in front of the crack. It was so sudden that I flinched and hit my head at the ceiling of the box I was trapped in.

“...Henry?” she questioned quietly. “Is that you?” She almost seemed excited. I didn’t understand why. What was there to be excited about? I had never seen her before.

“How do you know my name?” I asked distrustingly. “And who are you?”

“I’m Allison. Tom and I helped you get to the ink demon’s lair, remember?” Of all the people I had to meet it had to be one I couldn’t trust. How typical. But I had to rely on her if I wanted to get out and figure out what was going on. Why everything was so... different.

“Yes, I know who you are. You just look... different than what I remember. Anyway, would you mind getting me out of here? It’s not very comfortable and I don’t think I can get out on my own.”

“Oh, of course.” Her face disappeared and a few seconds later, the door in front of me opened with a creak. I could take a better look at her now. Instead of her inky angel body Allison had taken the form of a wooden puppet. She still had black, silky hair, but that was the only thing that stayed the same. She was wearing a black top hat and a purple shirt as well as a black skirt, yellow fringes and what appeared to be a black corset. I only noticed the black tie with the red skull on it on a second glance.

Allison smiled at me and held out her hand, but I couldn’t help but feel uncertain about getting out. Not only had her actions been very suspicious, but I didn’t know anything about the new environment. The story had changed. This was not the studio anymore. Everything would be completely different.

I sighed and took her hand. I was surprised how easily she pulled me out. Of course she had been strong as an angel, but as a puppet? My first few steps were a nightmare. I was doddery like a toddler attempting their first steps. But that was no big surprise as my whole body was made of wood just like hers. This time I was a part of the crowd, just like everyone else. I might have freaked out if it hadn’t been for all the things I had seen in Joey Drew Studios. Now I could just shrug it off and call it an every day occurrence.

“What is this place?” I asked and turned back to Allison. She had picked up a shovel and tried to swing it like a sword. “Um, Allison...?”

“Oh, I’m sorry Henry. I really don’t know what this place is. I just woke up in a wooden box just a while ago. Just like you.” She sighed. “I knew the best thing to do would be trying to find either Tom or you as you’re the only people I could trust. I think this might be some set for a TV series, but I’m not entirely sure. What I do know is the names of the puppets we inhabit.” She swung her shovel on a small wooden box that broke into pieces. Satisfied with her new weapon she looked at me.

“And... these names are?” I took a step in her direction.

“I’m Miss Lorelei Undertaker and you are Showdown Bandit, the star of the show. I found posters on a wall stating that. There was also a Banker and someone named Doc Carver.” I frowned? Why had Joey made me the star of the show? He hated when other people took the spotlight from him.

“I think we should try and find Tom,” Allison muttered. “If we don’t, he’ll probably start attacking everyone and everything he sees.” She didn’t sound worried. Just a little annoyed. For a moment I considered staying where I was, but that wouldn’t help me in the slightest. We would probably end up getting spit up anyway. And finding someone I could trust was also another possibility.

“Alright,” I replied. “Lead the way.”


	3. The Banker

I was quite surprised at how much Allison talked now that we were on our own. I hadn't actually seen her as the type of person to have long conversations with strangers after her being so suspicious of me at the beginning and barely telling me anything. Sure, she and Tom had held me captive for a while and she had gotten to know me which made her trust me a little bit more, but that didn't mean she should trust me as much as she did now. Was she really this naive? Or was she just acting naive so I would let my guard down?

I glanced at her from time to time, hoping it wasn't too obvious that I was keeping an eye on her. It was quite baffling to listen to her talk about every single detail of the things she had seen. Was she always this bubbly and I had just not noticed it before? Tom might have had some influence on her, so she wouldn't tell me too much. On the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me if Joey had made more changes. Why just change the story and put the same characters in it if you could mess with everyone's personalities as well? That would make things exciting. Let's be honest, that was exactly his way of thinking.

I stayed silent the entire time, nodding every once in a while. I started zoning out and found myself examining the environment. There had to be some clues about this new game Joey was playing with me. He hated doing everything from scratch, so there needed to be similarities to the loop. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had thrown me into another one, just to see me finally break down.

The whole place looked like it was from a puppet show. Everything had a western design. It was strange. As far as I knew Joey was neither a fan of puppets nor stories with historical backgrounds. He always deemed them to be too restricting, ranting about how they didn’t give you enough space to use your imagination. Joey wanted to be able to put everything he wanted into the cartoon. Why was it suddenly not his style anymore?

I was caught off guard, when Allison suddenly grabbed my arm. “Henry, look! That’s the Banker I was telling you about!” she whisper-yelled. I followed her gaze and noticed a small building not far away. In big bold letters it said **BANK**. Like it wasn’t already visible from the metal bars that didn’t quite reach the counter. 

Behind the counter sat a puppet with very light skin. It glanced around nervously, it’s body shaking. I was taken aback by its strange face. Instead of eyes, the puppet had four black holes that gave it a somewhat spider like appearance. It hadn’t noticed us yet, but I doubted that it would matter. There was nothing really scary or threatening about it. It was way too nervous to actually be a threat.

Allison seemed to think similar because she dragged me in the bank’s direction. We were pretty close when the other puppet finally noticed us. The Banker screamed in surprise and would have probably fallen off his chair if it hadn’t grabbed one of the bars. “Finally! Finally someone’s here! I was starting to think that I was all alone with this... thing. But you are here now! Uh... whoever you are...” It took a deep breath. Puppets didn’t need air. Whoever this was... they had definitely not been a puppet before.

“I’m Allison and this is Henry,” Allison smiled. I stared at her in disbelief. How could she just tell this puppet our names? We both were in an unknown place and she decided just to do it? Something was seriously wrong. If her personality had really been messed with... I didn’t trust her before. There was no reason to trust her now.

“Allison? Sorry, but I can’t seem to remember you. I’m not sure if we even met.” The Banker leaned forward and examined me. I noticed how strange the paint looked. The white paint was peeling off, especially on his hands. It revealed a darker color. Had this puppet quite literally been... whitewashed? “But Henry, I heard so much about you. You always kept Joey in check, back when the studio was still small. Joey and that janitor talked about you every once in a while. Joey more often when he had one of his tantrums about his projects, but still... it’s weird how you look like this now...” 

“And who are you?” The ex angel cocked her head. I didn’t think it was necessary to ask. He was a banker and was directly involved with Joey and talked about his projects.

“Oh, heh, I’m Grant. I’m sorry, I should’ve probably introduced myself earlier.” He rubbed his neck and chuckled nervously. “Say, uh, how long have you two been here?”

“Four hours at most, I think. I have never been very good at ballparking things.” Allison shrugged. “And then I found Henry an hour ago inside a box, but I don’t know how long he had been in there. Why do you want to know that?”

“Just to know if I need to clarify some things.” Grant glanced at me and frowned. It was like he noticed a detail about me that he hadn’t earlier. I didn’t like it. Again, something seemed off. “I woke up in this place three days ago. I still don’t know how I got here, but since it started getting more and more... inhabitants... I figured others like me would arrive as well. I haven’t... really met anyone else. Most puppets here are just like Searchers. Mindless creatures that attack everything in sight. There was only a weird puppet that has... green hypnotic eyes, I think? He was there when I first woke up, but he left the second he noticed I was awake. I haven’t seen him since.” He noticed he was drifting off topic and hemmed. “A-anyway, you need to make sure to find safe spots like this bank here.”

“Safe spots?” Allison repeated slowly. “You mean, the Ink Demon is here?”

The accountant shook his head. “No, as far as I can tell he isn’t. But it would make things worse if he was. A strange puppet roams this place. Every time the bell rings it makes an appearance. I was lucky enough to get into this bank when it arrived the first time. I haven’t gotten out of here since.”

“But, can’t you just-?”

“Run away?” There was something like amusement in Grant’s voice. “No, that’s impossible. It teleports across rooms, it seems. You’re almost never safe. There are certain rooms that are safe because it can’t enter those, but I wouldn’t be too confident in outrunning it. I have watched how it killed other puppets with its scythe. It’s almost unstoppable.”

“So you’re not going to come out and come with us?” I asked. I felt a bit glad the accountant was so scared. After all, anyone could potentially be my enemy in this new story. Getting attached and trusting people was just too much to ask. This was a simple story. Joey could twist everything into whatever he felt like. 

“No, I don’t think so.” Grant avoided to look them in their faces. “Sorry.”

Allison sighed. “It’s... fine. I can’t really blame you.” She turned around and examined their surroundings before walking away. Grant watched her with an unreadable expression.

I stared at him for a second, then I followed her. I knew I couldn’t trust her either, but with whatever Grant had said was roaming this place, a fighter like her was the best option I had.


End file.
